Residing in Shades of Grey
by Renegade Citizen
Summary: X-Men First Class: Charles and Erik journey is about to have unforseen concequences that will shape the very future of all mutants.  eventual E/C


_Authors Note:_

_So, naturally, I don't know of any writer who should be able to watch X-men First Class and not want to write a story starring Charles and Erik. It's just too perfect. _

_This story is an expansion of the movie, basically what I did was span it over more time, because was I the only one who thought that it all happened a little quickly? What maybe two weeks? So in this case, I'm stretching it out and writing a story that's focus is on Erik and Charles. Warning. Yes this will be a slash fic. Not that its much of a stretch to think from watching the movie. So with that in mind, I'm taking various creative liberties. _

_Hope you like it. _

_Warnings: In later chapters m/m relationships. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own X-men or anything along those lines. Trust me, the movie would have been rated R if I did. _

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><p><em>"You're not alone Erik, you're not alone"<em> those words continued to rattle around inside his head as he lay there, staring at the ceiling, contemplating the strange turn of events. This wasn't how it was supposed to play out. Today was to be his day of reckoning, his day of revenge. He had plotted out various senarios and possible end games and all of them had lead to his success and the completion of his life long mission ever since that day the great 'herr doctor' had counted to three and pulled that trigger. The coin was the only tangable thing that the good doctor had given him to hold onto. Everything else was nightmares and glimpses of memory- each worst than the last. However, it was supposed to come to an end, Shaw should be dead, but that woman, that little blonde tart, he hadn't accounted for her. He hadn't been prepared for what her and Charles could do.

'Charles' Suddenly sidetracked, Erik couldn't help but then to let his mind wander to a certain other blue eyed telepath. What had Charles been thinking when he had jumped off that boat and into the ocean? Erik owed him his life, he knew that he would have drowned had the other not jumped in after him. Hisrage had blinded him to reason as he had held on, before Charles snapped him out of it and forced him to the surface. How could he have been so stupid? He was not allowed to die first, he wasn't allowed to die until Shaw had suffered for what he had done to him, and paid for the life that he had taken.

The sound of the door creaking open had him instantly up and the gun from the nightstand flew into his hand before being leveled on his intruder. A familiar silohette slipped inside before pushing the door closed.

"For crying out loud Charles, have you any idea how much danger you just put yourself in?' Charles came across the room before taking a seat at the foot of the bed.

"Forgive me Erik, I just wanted to check up on you." Erik placed the gun back down on the nightstand. Sitting up fully, he let his back rest against the headboard.

"As you can see, I'm perfectly fine." Erik's tone left no room for discussion or arguments yet Charles continued wth his current train.

"It's alright to be a little overwhelmed Erik, in fact , its probably pretty natural in these kinds of situations." Erik just folded his hands in his lap, a small smirk coming to his lips.

"These situations? I didn't realize that things like this were commonplace." Charles paused for a moment before laughing quietly, a smile coming to his face.

"No, no I don't suppose they are. What I meant was the shock. How have you been recovering from that?"

"I'm fine." Charles just have him a look and Erik started to wonder if he was alone in his own head.

"Positive? Because Erik, you don't have to put on a show. You can tell me."

"Why bother when you can just figure it out for yourself?" Charles recoinled back slightly as if he had just been hit.

"Against popular belief, I do have some limits and scruptles, and I am not constantly rummaging around peoples minds"

"Just checking, I don't know you and I don't like the fact that you can just read my mind." Charles gave him a small smile, reaching out and placing a hand on his leg.

"Trust me Erik, you have nothing to fear from me." Erik shifted his leg in a silent demand that Charles stop touching him.

"A nice sentiment, but I don't know you and I don't have any reason to believe you, let alone trust you." His words were harsh and guarded, carrying accross the clear message that his statement held. Charles seemed to ignore the hostility oozing from his demenor, instead choosing to just pat his leg twice.

"That's fine, in time Erik you'll come to realize this as a true statemtn. You'll see." Charles seemd to have full belief in his words. "We're going to be embarking on a great journey together Erik, and let me tell you, I for one am estactic to see the truths we will find."

"Sometimes, the truth isn't something to be looked foreward to."

"And yet it is still a requirement of any journey."

"You have a childish vision of the world Charles.' Charles did a small shrug.

"Maybe." Eik was caught a little off guard. He had almost expected the other to argue with him, or try and twist his words to suit his purposes, but instead he just relented to him. "I will see you in the morning, yes?" Charles looked at him expectantly and at length, Erik nodded. "Good, I will talk to you in the morning then, try to get some sleep." With a frewell pat, Charles slid off of the bed and made his way back to the door. "Goodnight Erik." Was his final parting before slipping out and leaving him all alone again.

'No Erik, you're not alone' The phrase repeated in his head before Erik settled down.

"We shall see Charles, we shall see."

-xXx-

The time for pleasentries was over. He had stood by and watched them intercat with each other all day. The shapeshifter and ape-boy had to be some of the biggest imbicles known to mutant kind. Why on earth would they want to change their true forms for some pathetic excuse as being normal? Although it had been slightly amusing to see Chales trip over his own tongue. It was almost strange, how easily they intercated with one another, like because they all heeld the same secret, then they were obviously connected in some strange metaphysical way. Shaking his head at Raven and Hank, Erik looked around the room to take in the sight of Charles talking with Moira and the guy in the dorky glasses who he had never actually taken the time to learn his name. Charles seemed pretty animated in his conversation with the two agents. Erik couldn't help the scoff that came out. Charles was acting like a child who wanted to play secret agent. Surely he knew that the government would just use him for their own purposes until he broke, or worse; until the day that he was no longer needed. Then they would experiment and torture him until he died. Erik knew first hand what that reality was like, and it was not a fate that he would wish on anyone.

"A couple of missions and you guys will be seasoned pro's." Charles couldn't help the chuckle at the agents excitement.

"Probably not Jim, but its a nice thought. We'll need more time than that, to practice our abilities and to learn how to predict one another." Jim seemed to half ignore his statement, his excitement over his ability to find actual live mutants- other than Hank- had him over the moon and slightly over-reaching when it came to their abilities. Although Charles couldn't find it in hismelf to end his delusions.

"I can't wait to see you two in action, after watching him take on a ship by himself with an anchor, its going to be great. I'm looking foreward to our new division." Charles cast a quick glance over at the corner that Erik was standing in, silently taking in his surroundings. For one split second, they made eye contact and Erik pushed himself off the wall, leaving the immediate area. Charles just shook his head and he couldn't help but wonder how long it was going to take for Erik to realize that they weren't going to try and hurt him? How long before he realized that he had allies here? That he had friends?

_"Shaw has friends, you could do with a few."_

-xXX-

It had been quite the surprise to see Erik in the meeting the day after their talk outside the front doors of the agency. Truth be told, he hadn't expected to see him there. Charles had told Agent Saunders to start the meeting without Erik and when he had interrupted them to put in his two cents, Charles had made a quice decision to side with him. Not only was Erik probably right, but Charles wanted to show Erik that his opinions heald clout with him. The more Erik felt like Charles would back him up then maybe the more comfortable he would be with voicing his concerns and trusting him to listen.

Erik watched as the agent tried to play his other hand by saying:

"What if I say no?"

"Well then, good luck using your insulation without me." Erik watched as the agent leaned back in his chair, looking like he was debating his choices. Charles was just sitting there in his seat, looking unconcerned with the current situation at hand.

"I'll have to run it by the higher ups, and we'll see what can be done." The open ended statement was what the meeting finished on as Charles excused himself from the room. Walkind down the halls they stayed in silence until they reached Charles room. It was simple, like his without any of the fanfare that Erik was sure that the agents and supervisors recieved. Charles stretched, walking to go stand over by the window.

"I'm slightly excited about the chance to use that machine tomorrow."

"What makes you think he'll have the answer in time for that? They'll probably try to force your hand into letting an agent come along." Erik sighed. "Or they'll want Moira to come."

"I thought you like Moira?"

"No, you like Moira, that much is obvious. I don't trust her." Charles frowned.

"Moira's never been anything but polite and respectful to you."

"She's still one of them Charles, Nice or not, in the end her motives are the same as theirs." Charles shook his head.

"You're wrong. Moira doesn't see us any differently. She's one of the good guys Erik." Erik scoffed.

"There are times that the stupid statements that come out of your mouth just astound me." Erik took a few steps forward, coming over to the other man. "There is no such thing as the classification of good guys verses bad guys Charles." Charles just stood his ground as Erik came over to him.

"Then praytell Erik, if there isn't good and bad, then what is there? Where does the separation begin?"

"Between us and them." Was the answer given and Charles shook his head.

"Erik, there is no such separation. We're all the same, we want the same things."

"Do we?" Erik challenged. "Honestly, think about it Charles. Do we all want the same things?" Charles nodded.

"I believe we do." Erik just shook his head.

"I doubt it." He paused looking at Charles. "But I hope so. For all our sakes." Charles just reached out and patted his shoulder twice.

"Come my friend, lets get our minds off of such troubling thoughts. Do you play chess?" Charles made his way to the nightstand, pulling out a small chessboard before laying it out on the bed.

"It's been a long time." Erik stated as he took a seat on the edge and Charles grinned.

"Guess I'll have to take it easy on you." Erik heard the challenge in the others voice and he smirked.

"We'll see." Charles laughed as Erik set up the game. the gantlet between them had been thrown.

-xXx-

Naturally, Erik had been right. The director of the CIA had offered to throw Moira in with them as they went to track down more of their own kind. Charles didn't need to be telepathic to hear Erik's obvious stance of 'I told you so'. Despite his best intentions, the second attempt at negotiating wasn't going much better.

"I can stay out of your way. You wouldn't even know I was there." Moira offered up and Charles resisted the urge to ub his temples as Erik jumped in on his behalf.

"As adaptly as you've proven that fact Miss MacTaggert, all the same we would just rather you not be there." Charles saw her glance at him, her look slightly pleading with him to let her be present as they found the next generation. Reaching foreward, he brought a glass of wated up to his lips and took a slow drink before clearing his throat.

"I understand your want to be involved Moira, but my decision remains the same. A bunch of government agents showing up to abduct them is only going to cause panic and fear in the recruit. It needs a gentler touch with this and I firmly believe that Erik and I will be able to quell any fears a mutant might have since we're one of them." Moira looked like she was going to argue with Charles before sighing and leaning back in her chair. Erik chose to speak again before either of them could try a different approach.

"Charles has already told you that he will not step into that machine until you agree that no agents will be trailing us or harassing outher mutants. There's nothing that's going to change those conditions, am I right Charles?" Charles nodded. "So you need to go back to your supervisor and let them know that there will be no more pointless negotiations. We're not budging and you're wasting our time." With that, Erik stood. "Let's go Charles." Instantly, Charles arose from his seat, more than willing to leave the room that was slowly becoming borderline claustrophobic.

"Wait!" Much to Erik's irritation, Charles paused. "What if they say no?" Charles cast a quick glance at Erik before shrugging.

"Then we will be on our way and I wish you the best of luck dealing with Shaw." With that parting statemtn, both mutants exited the room.

"Told you they would be difficult." Erik stated and Charles sighed.

"If they refuse our condition, then we walk."

"Do you honestly think they'll just let you walk out of here?"

"Yes I do. If absolutely necessary...I'll ensure it." Erik could tell the cringe in the telepaths body as he said it and Erik nodded his approval.

"Very well." There was a momentary pause.

"Will you follow us? If we leave here?" Charles quiestioned, knowing first hand how deep Erik's rage and hatred for Shaw went. Staying with the government or going back on his own again would no doubt be his greatest chance for catching up with Shaw again.

"I don't know yet." Was the answer and Charles nodded.

"Understandable."

"I'll probably come with you, help you track down a few mutants, then head out to find and kill Shaw." Despite the second statement, he patted him on the shoulder.

"One way or another, we'll find the next generation and help train them. We're about to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves." Charles couldn't help the excitement in his voice and Erik just shook his head, an amused smile on his face.

"There are times Charles, when I just don't know how to take you." Charles grinned.

"I hope in a good way." Erik matched his look.

"The verdict is still out on that."

_"What an adorable lab rat you make Charles."_

-xXx-

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><p><em>So this was just setting the scene for the rest of the story. This is where serious deviations from the movie are about to take place. Heads up, if this story works out according to plan, then the overall time line will be much, much longer than that of the movie. <em>

_Hope you liked it and please, **review**!_

_No flames please. _

_(Also understand: I have no beta, and I'm sure that I've made several mistakes in this chapter and in future chapters to come. I apologize in advance, and please just ignore any typos.)_


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